Invited to Submit...What Does This Mean?

[PsyDGirl]

Hello,

I could use some advice. I am clinical PsyD student without much experience in the research world (no publications). I attended 2 psych conferences this year and have been pondering what journal to send my MA research study to. A couple days ago I received an invitation from the editorial board of a journal that had seen my talk at a conference, and the have invited me to submit. I looked up rankings and they are a top 10 psych journal. My questions are:

1) Is this common and does it mean that I have a better chance of being accepted?

2) I have a lot going on right now that requires a great deal of time. Should this be a top priority?

3) If I decided to submit, how soon would they reasonably expect to see my manuscript and should I email ahead of time with a response to their invitation?

I would appreciate any/all advice that you have to offer as I'm totally out of my element on this one!

[Dedi]

Which journal? Some journals are pay-to-publish, which in my opinion, can look worse on a CV than no manuscripts at all.

I get those emails, too. My mentor tells me to ignore them.

 

When you get those emails, make sure that the journal has peer reviews as part of the submission process.

[PsyDGirl]

It was the Journal of Psychological Sciences. Do you think it's legitimate? It is peer-reviewed and seems like a legit email but I don't know...

Edited July 29, 2015 by PsyDGirl

[Dedi]

Is that the exact name? Because I googled it and can't find it anywhere (Psychological Science, I assume, is a different journal).

I would be extra careful, especially if the journal name is very similar to a top journal in the field.

[PsyDGirl]

Okay, thanks. I will look into it further and maybe get my prof to take a look. You're right - probably just spam

[TakeruK]

Unfortunately these types of scam/spam are very very common. The other sad thing is that pretty much every time I've been mistakenly called "Dr.", it was by these scammers. Maybe that's why many academics prefer not to be addressed by Dr. because of these bad associations

[fuzzylogician]

Ask around or google the journal to make sure. If you got this email from someone you've never heard of, this is probably a spam email they send around to anyone who might bite. They usually go something like "We saw your talk [talk title] and think you are an expert in [vague field]. We would like to invite you to submit this work to our journal." Often the journal doesn't even sound like it's particularly related to your work. If this is the case, archive the email or send it to spam. The only thing to take seriously is an actual personalized email from someone you know, from a journal you've heard of.  

[rising_star]

Yea, to echo others, this strikes me as an email from one of those predatory journals. There's a list out there you may want to consult: http://scholarlyoa.com/publishers/ 

[starofdawn]

Unfortunately these types of scam/spam are very very common. The other sad thing is that pretty much every time I've been mistakenly called "Dr.", it was by these scammers. Maybe that's why many academics prefer not to be addressed by Dr. because of these bad associations

 

Academics prefer not to be addressed by Dr.?! Uh oh....

[Dedi]

Academics prefer not to be addressed by Dr.?! Uh oh....

 

I'm sure it depends on the person, too. I called most of my professors 'Dr.' (except the biology faculty for whatever reason) and they seem to prefer that when you are an undergrad.

[TakeruK]

Sorry, it was just a joking comment! Definitely should depend on each person. Probably depends on the norm of each department/field too!

 

In my experience, all of my professors prefer the title "Professor" over "Doctor". Maybe 9 out of 10 profs also wanted us to use first names rather than a title + last name, even when they were teaching undergraduate classes. But if you aren't sure, definitely err on the side of caution and use "Prof" and "Dr" until they ask otherwise!

[starofdawn]

Sorry, it was just a joking comment! Definitely should depend on each person. Probably depends on the norm of each department/field too!

 

In my experience, all of my professors prefer the title "Professor" over "Doctor". Maybe 9 out of 10 profs also wanted us to use first names rather than a title + last name, even when they were teaching undergraduate classes. But if you aren't sure, definitely err on the side of caution and use "Prof" and "Dr" until they ask otherwise!

 

It was a suspicion that my advisors preferred to be called by "Prof." rather than "Dr.", but no one ever corrected me when I addressed them as "Dr". A few months ago, I realized that becoming a professor is a major achievement on its own, and while my colleagues were passing their defenses and earning the "Dr." title, our advisors were still above them in stature. Therefore, I began switching to "Prof"... but was never sure if they cared, or even noticed. Anyways, my comment is getting off topic!

[lewin]

 

 

 Journal of Psychological Sciences

 

This sounds like a completely scammy journal named to mimic an actually good journal, Psychological Science. When I google "Journal of Psychological Sciences" it's the real Psych Science that comes up instead. Psych Science doesn't invite submissions.

 

As others have noted, spam invites to publish are really frequent once your email address is out there.